Mercy Abbott - The Kiss of Death

The Suspect?

Mercy knew she was hiding something, she could see her swollen eyes and her pretty face had lost all it's charm. But she noticed something more, there were black marks on her left arm.

"You don't look too well Amy... anything I can do to help?", she asked.

"Uh! I better get back to my room... thanks anyways...", Amy replied and walked towards her hostel room.

Mercy thought that she was being rude, she was always rude to her from the beginning. Amy would pass comments at her during classes and share rumours about her. Mercy ignored her always- but something was different today. Amy was upset. Mercy felt as though a thick cloud of sadness and despair was raining upon her. But she denied her help, so she decided to forget about it and walked towards her class.

Later that evening Mercy was in her room when she heard a lot of commotion outside, she peered through her window and saw people rushing towards the other part of the hostel where Amy's rom was. Mercy went out to look. As she reached Amy's room she saw a huge crowd gathering there, something had happened. The dean and the warden were talking to the police. An ambulance had just arrived. Mercy pushed through the crowd and stood at Amy's door. What she saw turned her stomach. There was blood everywhere, Amy's body lay on the bed, her throat slashed and a pile of flowers lay right beside her. Mercy screamed at the horrible sight and she started to feel dizzy, her freinds tried to console her.

She kneeled down outside and started to weep. Who would do such a horrible thing to her? She had just talked to her only a few hours ago. Why her? Why? A young police officer saw her state and walked up to her.

"You all right Miss?", he asked

Mercy didn't reply and kept sobbing.

"My name's detective inspector Lester and if it's all right with you I'd like to ask you a few routine questions..." said Lester.

Mercy comes to the conclusion that a dangerous group of criminal were planning on taking over Hope City by destroying its most powerful people like the Mayor, Director of the police department, General Manager of the Banks, etc. While solving one crime after another she comes to know that an Occult group called "The Order of the Black Rose" are behind the crimes. And as soon as she comes to know about it, her life turns upside down. Her loved one's come face to face with death, people she's close to are hurt and tortured and she's about to give up but then Lester reminds her about her first case and why she started to fight crime. She remembers about Amy and how she felt about her murder. She's fully motivated and rages a full scale war against "the order''. Now no matter what she's not going to give up until she brings those criminals to justice.

Some important parts of the story includes her awkward moments with Lester and the feelings they start to have for each other but due to their pride and ego they almost ignore it and although they like each other it's not until the c****x that they realise that they are perfect for one another.

The police department is a motley group of crime solving experts, like forensic expert Harley Darwin who's often dubbed as a mad genius, or Chief Inspector Armstrong who acts scared most of the time but shows true valour at the end. Even detective Lester is no less than a hero who in one of the scenes takes a few bullets for Mercy.The story's c****x begins with the showdown between "the Order" and Mercy Abbott's crime solving abilities. Although tired and beaten at first by the cult she stands up and fights with the help of her friends and colleagues and brings down this crazy cult. In the last few chapters Mercy avenges Amy's death by catching the killer and brings down the cult.She now looks back on her journey and transformation of being a simple student to a crime solving genius. Although her heart aches for the people she lost but she relaises that she has made a lot more true friends and colleagues and has rid Hope City of this mad band of criminals

Later that evening Mercy was in her room when she heard a lot of commotion outside, she peered through her window and saw people rushing towards the other part of the hostel where Amy's rom was. Mercy went out to look. As she reached Amy's room she saw a huge crowd gathering there, something had happened. The dean and the warden were talking to the police. An ambulance had just arrived. Mercy pushed through the crowd and stood at Amy's door. What she saw turned her stomach. There was blood everywhere, Amy's body lay on the bed, her throat slashed and a pile of flowers lay right beside her. Mercy screamed at the horrible sight and she started to feel dizzy, her freinds tried to console her.

She kneeled down outside and started to weep. Who would do such a horrible thing to her? She had just talked to her only a few hours ago. Why her? Why? A young police officer saw her state and walked up to her.

"You all right Miss?", he asked

Mercy didn't reply and kept sobbing.

"My name's detective inspector Lester and if it's all right with you I'd like to ask you a few routine questions..." said Lester.

Mercy took a good look at Lester. He was a fit young man probably 30-ish , carried himself well and had a kind face.

"Will you catch whoever did this to her and make 'em pay?" , Mercy asked with fire in her eyes.

"Well that's why we are here Miss... it's our job..", replied Lester kneeling down.

"Simply asking questions won't do you any good ... you need to do something quick, the killer mustn't escape...", said Mercy wiping her tears.

"I'm sure we will do our best Miss...now if you could just answer a few questions...starting with your name..." said Lester taking out his notebook.

"Amy was a calssmate of mine and besides that I knew very little of her... I had a brief chat with her only a few hours ago and she looked really sad, something was bothering her...I hope you catch the guy who did this to her..." replied Mercy

"How do you know it's a guy?", asked Lester.

"The flowers on her bed, the sheer brutality of the crime, the bruises on her arms and the fact that she was upset earlier and was trying to hide her tears... I think there's a high probability that its a matter of foul play and she was in a bad relationship...no, it's not a woman ... it must be her lover- a man, someone who could had easy access to the place ....by the way have they recovered the weapon?" , replied Mercy calming herself.

"Only if I could have a few more minutes with her", I wished and closed my eyes as I pressed my hand on the window of the car.

As I opened my eyes again I saw her sitting inside the car with her hands pressed against mine on the other end of the glass. I looked around and then looked at her. Everything froze. The rain drops stopped midway. The people on the street,the cars,the traffic everything froze- time stopped! I looked at her - her sad little face froze at the same expression.

"What's happening?', I asked myself taking my hand off from the window.

"My wish came true?", I stood there puzzled at this bizzare sight.

I touched the droplets of rain and moved my hand through them as I created a weird gap in the air. I knocked on the glass, she didn't respond. The driver sat there like a statue with his hands on the wheel.

"What on earth is happening?", I asked myself. Then I remembered - her last words - she whispered into my ears as she was leaving-

"Be careful what you wish for... you're more than you think you are..."

I realised at that moment that she was talking about my powers- the ability to turn wishes into reality. It was a dangerous power to have and I was told that everytime I used it I was drawn one step closer to death!

But I wasted no time.I had the opportunity to change the situation and take her away with me. I opened the door and grabbed her arm and carried her away from the car. As I walked away I realised everything was slowly turning back to normal again. Time was restoring itself. Raindrops were starting to fall again. I only had a few moments before they realised that I had taken her away. I tried to run - as fast as I could.

"Aut c*m scuto aut in scuto"

"Sahib! They've broken the front gate and will be coming inside soon... What to do... Sahib... I am very much afraid!",

cried out a very shaken Ram Babu as he came running inside the room.

Prof. Carey was checking his notes one last time and stuffing his bag with all his journals.

"Fear not man, they still have to break into the building through the door which I can assure you will take an elephant to crash in", said the professor confidently.

He has only been in India for a few months as a professor of archaeology to study the ancient monuments and relics, but his stay was cut short with the outbreak of the rebellion of the sepoys. For the last few weeks, he has been working on deciphering a curious inscription that he found carved in a wall inside a cave. The carvings were strange with a mixture of Sanskrit and pictograms and an ancient undeciphered dialect. The professor was sure these were those mythical scripts of a map that led to the fabled city of Agartha in the freezing Himalayas- the place of the Yeti and immortality...

"My God! These men have gone mad -Quick! Grab that bag and come with me," said the professor looking out of his window of the first floor only to see hundreds of bloodthirsty rebels with torches in their hands and all types of weapons running across the great courtyard shooting- the guards didn't stand a chance.

The two men hurried down the stairs and rushed through the backyard which led to a thick forest on the south.

"We are almost there Sahib! Once we reach the jungle they won't find us..." cried Ram babu as he ran along with his master with the bags in his hands.

"Look out Sahib!" Ram Babu cried out.

Suddenly a man jumped out of nowhere blocking their path and drawing out a sword.

"Give me the Kalachakra map, or die!" threatened the six-foot-tall masked man.

"The what -" asked the professor in surprise.

But before he could say any more the giant punched him in the gut took the map out of his coat and disappeared as quickly as he came... there was a weird silence now, the guns have stopped blazing and the cries of the madmen grew distant.

"Sahib! Are you ok?" asked Babu as he helped the professor.

"Ah! yes ..yes... I'm fine", replied Carey trying to recover from the pain.

He had lots of questions in his mind and these rapid turn of events made him realise that he had in his possession some very valuable object which unfortunately was now in the hands of his unknown assailants. Nevertheless, they had to get out of that place. He quickly gathered his scattered belongings from the ground and instructed his scared assistant to follow him with the bags towards the commander's bungalow - silently hoping it was fortified enough to fend off the attacks of the riots. He took one last look at his bungalow as flames burst out of its windows and drew a long breath as both of them headed towards the jungle where a secluded path would lead them towards the outskirts of the village.

Professor Carey looked at his watch - it was 5:30 pm. The thick canopy of the forest gave away to less dense foliage ahead.

"There must be a river crossing somewhere around here..." said the professor.